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Mom Sues Drink Maker for Son's Death

A teenager consumed a Monster—and
his life ended in horror, a suit filed by his grieving mother claims.

Paula Morris alleged in
a lawsuit filed Tueday that her son Alex died because of Monster—an energy
drink the young man couldn’t get enough of, The Huffington Post reports.

Alex, 19, drank two cans of Monster
every day for three years, up to and including the day of his death. He
experienced cardiac arrest in the wee hours of July 1, 2012. Though he was
taken to the hospital, he was ultimately pronounced dead.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda
County Superior court in California, isn’t the first against Monster Beverage
Corp. Last year, the company was sued by the family of Anais Fournier, a
14-year-old in Maryland who died after consuming two 24-ounce cans of Monster.

Alexander Wheeler, the attorney
representing the plaintiffs in both the Fournier and Morris cases, says, “Our
allegations in the lawsuits are the same and that's [sic] the people's deaths were
caused by these energy drinks and, more specifically, the defendants' failure to
warn about the dangers.”

Monster, based in Corona, had
argued in Fournier’s case that there was no blood-test proof to confirm the
girl had died of “caffeine toxicity,” as the lawsuit contended. The company
contended Fournier had instead succumbed to natural causes, an unforseen
consequence of preexisting conditions. Monster reps are so far staying mum on
Morris’s case.

This may not be the end of the
company’s problems. The Food and Drug Administration is looking into other
deaths possibly linked to energy drinks, including five reports that cite Monster
specifically.